ther weighed three pounds and an half;--was black on the
outside, as if from smoke;--and, internally, seemed composed of matter
of the colour of ashes;--in which were perceived small spots of metals,
of gold and silver.
And, besides these, Professor Soldani of Siena, was shewn about fifteen
others: the surfaces of which were glazed black, like a sort of
varnish;--resisted acids;--and were too hard to be scratched with the
point of a penknife.
Signior _Andrew Montauli_, who saw the cloud, as he was travelling,
described it as appearing much above the common region of the clouds;
and as being clearly discerned to be on fire;--and becoming white, by
degrees; not only where it had a communication, by a sort of stream of
smoke and lightning, with a neighbouring similar cloud: but also, at
last, in two-third parts of its whole mass, which was originally black.
And yet he took notice, that it was not affected by the rays of the sun,
though they shone full on its lower parts.--And he could discern as it
were the bason of a fiery furnace, in the cloud, having a whirling
motion.
This curious observer gives an account also, of a stone, which he was
assured fell from the cloud, at the feet of a farmer; and was dug out of
the ground, into which it had penetrated.--And he says, that it was
about five inches long, and four broad; nearly square; and polished:
black on the surface, as if smoked; but within, like a sort of
sand-stone, with various small particles of iron, and bright metallic
stars.
Other stones are described by him; which were said to have fallen at the
same time: were triangular; and terminated in a sort of (pyramidal) or
conical figure.--And others were so small as to weigh not more than an
ounce.
Professor Soldani saw another stone, said to have fallen from the cloud,
which had the figure of a parallelopiped, blunted at the angles; and was
as it were varnished, on the outside, with a black crust; and quite
unlike any stones whatever of the soil of the country where it had
fallen.
Two ladies being at _Cozone_, about 20 miles from _Siena_, saw a number
of stones fall, with a great noise, in a neighbouring meadow: one of
which, being soon after taken up by a young woman, burnt her hand:
another burnt a countryman's hat: and a third was said to strike off the
branch of a mulberry tree; and to cause the tree to wither.
Another stone, of about two ounces weight, fell near a girl watching
sheep; a young pers
|